Chapter 8
And observe what the LORD your God requires. Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.
1 Kings 2:3
A few days passed before we receive any news on the tryouts. It was a Sunday afternoon when the letters for us came in the mail. Larry was the one to go out and get them. And, upon removing them from the mailbox, quickly stretched back here by using his quirk.
"Guys!" Larry shouted, coming into the house after getting the mail. "Mail call!"
"What is it?" I asked, as all of us gathered around him.
"Letters from U.A!" Larry replied, holding six envelopes in his hands. "I think they're our tryout scores!"
"Well what are you waiting for? Hand them over!" I said excitedly.
"Patience, my friend." said Larry, pretending to sound mystical. "I want to give them out individually; It builds up suspense that way. Now, who wants to go first?"
Everybody looked to me, so I said, "I'll go first."
Larry handed me an envelope; It had my name on it, and the logo for U.A. I tore it open, and pulled out a paper that some information and then, it informed me of my test score. It said I got eighty-five points on the written test, which meant I passed that. I then found out how much I got on the physical test: Ninety-nine points… I PASSED!
"I passed…" I said quietly. I then shouted, "I passed!"
Everybody let out a cheer for me, upon hearing that I made it. I looked at the paper again; It said I was going into Class 1-A!
"And I'm going to Class 1-A!" I yelled, causing everybody to cheer again.
"Alright, lets settle down." Mr. Tetsuo said, calming us down. "The six of you are proving that Americans are very loud people. Zilo, how about you go next?"
Zilo took his envelope from Larry. Upon opening it, he found out that he got sixty points on the written exam, which was barely a passing grade. And, he got ninety points on the physical exam. He passed, and was also going to into Class 1-A! A round of cheering from all of us, though we did it quietly, to not upset Mr. Tetsuo.
Sunshine was next: She scored a ninety on the written exam, and a seventy-five on the physical exam; She passed, and was going into Class 1-A! Another round of quiet cheering!
After Sunshine, Larry went next: He scored a sixty-five on the written exam, and an eighty-five on the physical exam; He passed, and was going into Class 1-A! Another round of quiet cheering!
After Larry, Margaret went next: She scored a sixty on the written exam, and a seventy-five on the physical exam; She passed, and was going to Class 1-A! Another round of quiet cheering!
Finally, Maddox was up. "I can't bring-bring-bring my-my-myself to open it-it-it…" he stuttered. "What if I did-did-didn't pass?"
"Come on, Maddox!" Larry spoke up. "With the way things are going, we're all going into Class 1-A! Just crack it open and hope for the best!"
"I can't…" Maddox said silently. "Can-Can-Can one of you do-do-do it?"
"I'll do it." Zilo said, opening the letter. He then looked at it and said, "Oh my gosh…" We all looked worriedly at him. "Maddox…" Maddox looked scared when he said that. "You're going to Class 1-A with us…"
We all laughed and cheered loudly when we heard that; Maddox, upon hearing he was getting in, bear hugged Zilo and yelled, "You idiot! You had me going!"
"Got you there, didn't I?" Zilo laughed before returning the embrace.
"Hey, Maddox didn't stutter!" I yelled, causing everybody to laugh again.
"Well then…" said Mr. Tetsuo, causing the room to go dead quiet. "I guess I have some school uniforms to go pick up. I'll be right back. Continue celebrating, but do it quietly; We have neighbors, you know."
We all continued celebrating, but quietly this time, as Mr. Tetsuo left the living room to get our school uniforms. We had made it into Class 1-A!
"How about that?" I said, later that day when I was reporting to Shuriken. "I got in, and I have the letter saying so. Check it out!"
Shuriken took the envelope from me, opened it, unfolded the paper, and read it. He then said, "Good job; you made into Class 1-A. I guess I can report your success to All for One."
"And you won't have to kill me!" I replied, taking back the letter from Shuriken.
"That's good; I'm starting to grow fond of you." Shuriken responded with a smile. He then said, "Now, you will be required to have a meeting with All for One every now and then. When he wants to speak with you, I will come get you. It'll have to be at night, so find a way to get out of the house undetected. Understood?"
"Understood." I replied, nodding my head with a smile.
"Oh yeah, and your father wants to talk with you, and see how you're doing."
My expression darkened, and I asked, "Are you going to call him?"
"He told All for One that he wanted to call you, and All for One told me to tell you that." Shuriken replied. "And yes, I am going to call him up."
Shuriken pulled out his phone, typed some numbers in it, and then waited. After a few seconds, he said into the phone, "Hello, Mr. Rourke? Yes, this is Daisuke Haruki; I work with All for One. I have your son on the line here… Yes, I'll give him to you." He then handed the phone to me. "Here you go."
I sighed, put the phone to my ear, and said, "Hello?"
"Hey Joshua…" my father's voice came over the phone; It sounded cold, yet familiar. "How are you doing?"
"Good." I replied dryly. "I got into Class 1-A, just like we planned."
"That's good." My father replied. "You do remember what will happen to you if you go rogue, right?"
"Yes; Shuriken here will kill me, and if he doesn't get me, you'll do it. I already know what's going to happen, so you don't need to remind me."
"Don't take a sarcastic tone with me, boy!" My father growled. "Lest you forget, your life and my allegiance are on the line if this plan fails! If we're going to get into the League of Villains, we need to cooperate as best as you can! Understood?!"
"I understand; No need to yell." I replied. I then decided to end our conversation quickly. "Anyway, I have to go. Good talking with you, father…"
"Good talking with you." He said. "Remember what will happen if you go rogue…"
I then hung up and handed the phone back to Shuriken.
"Well, that went well." I said sarcastically.
"Not really friendly, is he?" Shuriken asked.
"Are you kidding? He won the award for 'Deadliest Villain' for four years running!"
"There's an award for that?"
"No, I'm being sarcastic." I replied. "There is no award for being the deadliest villain."
"Oh. If there was, I would like to go for it."
"Right. Well, I'm going back into the house. I'll see you later, Shuriken." I said, as I began to walk away.
"See you later, Death Shriek II." Shuriken replied.
I quickly turned around to tell them that wasn't going to be my name, but he was already gone! The guy moved like a flipping ninja!
I didn't get much sleep that night, as the thought about becoming 'Death Shriek II', and my father blowing my eardrums to kingdom come was bugging me. Finally, I went to sleep and slept for a while, until the alarm clock went off. Today was my first day at U.A!
I got up and went downstairs to grab a bite to eat. Everybody was already down there; I was the last to get up again! After a breakfast of rice, some bread, and a food called Miso Shiru, we went to prepare for our first day. I went to the bathroom (did I mention that Mr. Tetsuo had a couple of bathrooms in house?), showered, brushed my teeth, and then dressed in the uniform that Mr. Tetsuo brought me from U.A. The uniform was a light gray blazer jacket, a white dress shirt, black dress pants, and a red tie. There were also brown dress shoes, but I abandoned them for my white and blue sneakers.
When I came downstairs, I waited for the others to get ready. Zilo and Larry were the first to come downstairs, and they were dressed in their uniforms. Zilo wore the light gray blazer jacket, the white dress shirt, and black dress pants. He didn't wear the tie or the brown shoes, and instead wore his black running shoes.
Larry, instead of wearing the blazer, wore a gray vest. He also had the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up, no red tie, and wore his white cowboy hat and cowboy boots with the ensemble.
"I wonder why we have to wear these uniforms." I said, pulling on my collar. "They're a little bit tight."
"I like it, personally." Larry spoke up. "It gives me a cowboy look. If I had a gun belt, a holster with a revolver, and a sheriff star, I'd really be in business!"
"Your mom and dad let you watch too many westerns, mister." I said.
Maddox then came down the stairs, followed by Sunshine and Margaret. Maddox's uniform was the same as mine, but he wore the brown dress shoes, not his sneakers. Sunshine and Margaret wore the grey blazer, red tie, white dress shirt, a black skirt instead of black dress pants, and the brown dress shoes, which were modified to look feminine. However, Sunshine wore black tights instead of socks, while Margaret wore black socks and her white sneakers.
"My, don't you all look fancy!" Larry said in a western accent.
"Thanks, Larry." Sunshine replied. "This is a little bit different than the schools back in America."
"Yeah." said Zilo. "We weren't required to wear uniforms back home. Oh well, can't complain. The uniform fits pretty good for me, but I had to cut holes in the back of the shirt and jacket for my wings."
"Do you have to do that for every shirt that you get?" I asked.
"Yep. And I have to fold my wings down and through the holes in the back of my clothing, which hurts like somebody twisting your arm the wrong way. But I've mastered how to do it over the years, so isn't all that bad."
Mr. Tetsuo then came down the stairs. He was wearing the clothes he wore when he picked us up at the airport: white dress shirt, black slacks, and black shoes. He also wore a black blazer jacket to complete the ensemble.
"Now that you all are dressed up, we'll head over to U.A." Mr. Tetsuo said. "Now, the six of you will go to orientation first, which is at an earlier time then the classes, and then you'll be given instructions on the where to go for Class 1-A. Afterwards, you know how it works: You go to your classes, go to lunch, go to classes, leave the school and come back here. Any questions?"
None of us replied, so Mr. Tetsuo said, "Well then, let's go!"
The seven of us then left the living room, went to the door, and then to the van. Mr. Tetsuo was driving, Maddox was riding shotgun, Margaret and Sunshine were in the middle, and Zilo, Larry, and I were in the back. After starting up the van and pulling out of the driveway, we started driving to U.A.
We arrived at U.A, and then got out of the van in front of the 'H' shaped building.
"I'll see you all later!" Mr. Tetsuo yelled as he drove away. "Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Zilo called back. He then looked at all of us and said, "All right; Orientation is in the auditorium. Let's go."
We all remembered where the auditorium was, so we went into the 'H' shaped building, cut through the courtyard, and made it to the auditorium. There were several other kids there, all sitting and waiting for whoever was going to speak. I then saw Emiko and Naoko sitting with a group of other kids!
"Hey, I'll be right back…" I said to Zilo. "I just got to say hello to some friends…"
"Okay." Zilo replied. "We'll save you a seat."
I then left him and went over to Emiko and Naoko, who were both dressed in the school uniform pertaining to their gender.
"Hey, you guys made it!" I said excitedly. "Did you make it into Class 1-A?"
"Not exactly." Emiko replied. "We ended up making it, but we got into Class 1-B."
"Oh, jeez…" I said, disappointed that they didn't get what they wanted. "I'm so sorry that you didn't get the class you-"
"Save your apologies, Joshua." Naoko said, not but in a harsh way. "We got in, and that's what counts. We may not be in Class 1-A, but we're still in U.A. For being here, I'll be in Class 1-B."
"Well, I just want to know that you've got a friend in Class 1-A."
"Thank you, Joshua." Emiko said with a smile. "See you around."
"See you around." I replied.
I then made my way back to my friends, who were sitting in a row near the auditorium. I sat on the end, next to Margaret. After a few seconds of waiting we heard from the back of the auditorium:
"WELCOME STUDENTS!"
Suddenly, in a flash, a figure flew through the air and landed on the stage. The sudden appearance sent of the six of us in fight or flight, and I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming out. The other kids didn't react like that, but reacted in awe.
The person who landed on the stage was a large, muscular looking man with blonde hair and a chiseled face. He wore a yellow blazer, a white dress shirt, yellow dress pants, and black shoes. A wide grin was on his face as he stepped forward to speak.
"I AM THE NUMBER ONE PRO HERO, THE SYMBOL OF PEACE, ALL MIGHT!" the man said, his voice loud and heroic. "PRINCPAL NEZU CANNOT MAKE IT RIGHT NOW, SO I AM HERE TO WELCOME ALL NEW STUDENTS TO U.A! YOU ALL HAVE WORKED HARD TO GET HERE, AND YOUR HARD WORK WILL NOW BE REWARDED! I BELIEVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU CAN WORK TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AND MORE! LIKE WE SAY HERE AT U.A, 'GO BEYOND! PLUS, ULTRA!' AND WITH THAT, I WISH YOU ALL A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR, AND THE BEST OF LUCK! SEE YOU ALL OUT THERE!"
The students cheered as All Might finished his speech, leapt off the stage, and out of the auditorium. All we did was sit there in shock at what we just witnessed.
"So…" Maddox said. "Do-do-does that me-me-mean orientation is ov-ov-over?"
The six of us stood outside Class 1-A, which was represented by a large door with a '1-A' on it. The door was absolutely huge, bigger than any door we had ever seen!
"So…" I said, a little intimidated at the size of the door. "Who's… going… first?"
I looked over at my friends, who were kind of intimidated themselves. We honestly didn't know what to expect, with us being foreigners and all. We didn't know if the class was going to be friendly, unfriendly, or whatever.
"Okay, I guess I'll go first." I said, when nobody answered.
I then psyched myself up, just to make a good first impression. I then reached for the door, opened it up, and-
I don't know how I tripped; Maybe I slipped on something, or maybe my feet twisted the wrong way, or maybe I wasn't paying attention. Either way, I lost my footing and fell right into Class 1-A with a loud CRASH!
So much for a first impression…